Conventional connector-mounting members typically comprise L-shaped metal brackets, bolts that extend through holes in legs of the L-shaped brackets extending along flanges that extend outwardly from sides of a connector housing, nuts that are threadable onto the bolts to secure the L-shaped brackets to the housing flanges, and board mounting members that extend through holes in the other legs of the L-shaped brackets for engaging through-holes in a circuit board thereby mounting the connector onto the circuit board.
These conventional mounting members use a large number of parts in addition to requiring assembly of the parts. This increases the cost of board-mounted connectors due to the number of parts as well as the cost of assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,659 discloses connector-mounting members in the form of metal L-shaped members of the same configuration, each including internal screw-threaded shanks projecting from the upwardly-directed legs of the L-shaped members and holes in the other legs of the L-shaped members whereby the shanks have retention ribs on exterior surfaces for retaining the L-shaped members onto side flanges of a connector housing when the shanks are forcefully inserted into holes of the side flanges. Locking clips are inserted into the holes of the other legs of the L-shaped members for engagement with through-holes of a circuit board for mounting the connector housing to the circuit board.
The drawbacks of the connector-mounting members of the above patent are as follows: the connector-mounting members have the same configuration wherein the internal screw-threaded shanks mate with male jack screws, which is not acceptable under current ISO/IEC Standards; the retaining ribs may not securely retain the connector-mounting members at their proper orientation; and locking clips are required to mount the connector to a circuit board.